Week 4 Training Recap

It was an exhausting weekend and I felt so tired and sleepy after two consecutive days of long ride and long run. I guess I need to look at my nutrition and vitamin supplements. Last week, I have increased my run mileage as planned, did a total of 58 km. I was happy to have followed the distance as per my plan. Also, I was able to do a test ride on my newly acquired road bike (second hand) and did a 50km time trial.

Below was my running workout, I have been running 10k’s in 4 consecutive days. Waking up in the morning has been so difficult last week due to the cold weather. But I needed to remind myself of the Condura Run (where I hope to do a new PR for my 21k run), and not to waste the effort I did in building up my mileage. I was happy with the result last week as I was able to again improve my time for 10k at 1:03:15, this is my current PR for this distance. Hopefully, I get to improve this week. I am close to sub-60 mark.

Date / Distance / Time / Pace / Remarks

Jan 19 / 10 / 1:09:47 / 6:58 / Recovery Run

Jan 20 / 10 / 1:06:57 / 6:41 / Easy Run

Jan 21 / 10 / 1:03:15 / 6:19 / Tempo Run

Jan 22 / 10 / 1:04:40 / 6:28 / Easy Run

Jan 24 / 18.5 / 2:04:37 / 6:51 / LSD

I did my long distance run yesterday with fellow Gone Running Club runners. We planned to use the Paseo – Nuvali Road –Cangolf and back. Unfortunately, as I was about to unload the hydration at the guard house, the guard told me that it was prohibited to run along Nuvali road as mandated by the management (I guess for the safety of the runners). Runners are allowed only to run at the lakeside area, but bikers are still allowed. I will have to coordinate with Nuvali management to clarify this mandate. Anyway, we ended up going to the Paseo-Lasalle-Verdana Route but we were not allowed to enter the second gate going in to Verdana-Greenfield road. So we headed back and use alternative routes since there are many options anyway in the area. It was a good run, I only had brief walk breaks. I hope to improve next week as I felt so tired in the last 3km stretch.

As for biking, I felt a totally different handling on the road bike vs mountain bike. Obviously it was lighter and helped to add more speed. I did a 50km ride with an average speed of 24kph, way off the mark of the elite riders that was training at that time, they were riding at an average of 35-40kph. I needed more leg power to increase the speed, my heart rate was at 80% only and my legs can’t keep up. In time, I'll be able to catch up with the pack. Another week of training, let’s see what happens.

Running and Biking

It was a good workout last week, however, I have slipped a bit on my planned mileage for my running workout, but I compensated in my bike mileage instead. I logged in a total of 7 hours and 46 mins of workout the whole week which includes a 2 hour and 53 mins of weekend ride on my mountain bike in Tagaytay yesterday. Total running mileage was 42.5km and a cycling mileage of 48.5km.

It was a better run for me last week, I decided to push myself a bit and exerted more effort in my 10km run and I was able to finish in 1:04:57. I am less than 5 minutes off the sub-60 mark. Hopefully this week would be a better run for me.

Sunday was the planned long ride with fellow Mountain Bike riders and we decided to take the reverse palace route going to Tagaytay. It was a cool morning and we took off from Paseo de Sta Rosa at about 6:00 am. I was riding with Luigi (Ford), Leo (Avon), and Neil (Avon). I appreciated that we started on time as agreed, no more waiting and setting up of bike. We were just read to go and pedal all the way.

I haven’t had an uphill climb for a while now and found myself struggling and have been on granny mode (lowest gear) on the way up. Sure thing, running and biking are two different workouts. But good thing that my cardio has improved through running. Indeed, I need to do more uphill bike training in preparation to Laguna Loop part 2 (about 185km and I missed part 1). I believe we are scheduling this in February after the Condura Run.

After 15km of ride, we took a pit stop to replenish and hydrate, it was already foggy and rain started to pour, we waited for awhile hoping that the rain will stop as it was very cold already, aside from the rain, it was also windy. As other bikers started to arrive at the pit stop, we decided to proceed since we figured that the rain will not stop. The chillness in the air helped us to climb easily, the road was foggy and you can barely see other riders from a distance.

Another training week ahead to look forward to. Here are some photos from our ride.

At km 20, foggy, raining, and windy. Brrrr! I came from down there and decided to stop a bit to capture this moment.

Still at km 20 looking up ahead, about 500 meters to the Tagaytay National Road.

With Neil while waiting for Leo.

With Luigi, Leo arrived 2 minutes after.

My first MTB trail

In February 2009, I finally got my Mountain Bike. It’s a 2009 Giant Trance X2. Have been planning to get a mountain bike since last year, but it was just not a priority for me. My friends were actually pushing me to join them in their ride but was not yet ready at that time. I was a biker since the BMX days, have lost one BMX and one mountain bike already. I hope this one doesn’t get lost now.

Like a kid who just got his new present, I immediately took a ride in the village to get acquainted with the bike. Had a few laps only as I don’t want to push myself as I have not exercised for a long time. There was a scheduled weekend ride and I was invited to join and was excited as I have been wanting to join them in the trails. Same as running, I haven’t ride a bike for a long time and there was no fitness for me since two years ago. So I told my friend that I might slow down the group, but no worries according to him since they will guide me along the way and adjust to my pace (not really).

I got excited the night before the weekend ride, had trouble sleeping again (I mistakenly drank coffee at 5pm that kept me wide awake till 1am). The following morning, woke up 5:30 am, took a shower, geared up, then rode from house to Paseo Sta Rosa (I live near the place) to meet the guys. Off we went to the Cardiac hill. First time I climbed the hill was thru a golf cart (the hill is between the south forbes golf course). Here I was halfway the climb.

I ended up walking as I ran out of air. I thought walking would be easy but it was also hard, so I stopped rested for a while and then started to ride until I finish the climb.


I have enjoyed the rough trail, especially the downhill, the adrenalin rush was just so amazing. It was a good ride, we finished at 12nn, and boy was I hungry! This would definitely be the start of my weekend ride. From here on, i was motivated to go back to fitness, started jogging at least once a week then ride on saturdays. As i mentioned in my previous blog, the Condura Run made me run more and now i started running on weekdays, and ride on saturdays.

At the trail..

Here are the guys, Leo, Luis, Egay, Bay, Ed, and Me..